A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to articles useable by a person to carry his or her credit cards. More particularly, the invention relates to a carrying case for a plurality of credit cards, which is useable separately or as an insert installed in a wallet, the construction of the case preventing it from being conveniently closed and returned to a person's pocket or purse until and unless a credit card which has been removed from the insert for use in a transaction has been returned to the insert.
B. Description of Background Art
Losing a credit card by accidently leaving it behind after use at a place of business is a very common occurrence. Reported credit card losses resulting from such oversights are staggering. Loss of a credit card can become a virtual nightmare, for a number of reasons. For example, trying to remember where one has last used his or her credit card, the inconvenience of returning to a business establishment to determine if the card has been left there, and the haunting fear of wondering whether the card is still there are common experiences associated with a credit card loss. Moreover, if the credit card is not present at a presumed location, problems for the credit card holder can quickly escalate. These problems include the hassle and time involved in reporting the credit card missing and obtaining a replacement card. An even worse problem being faced increasingly today is not merely the financial losses resulting from charges made on a card by someone who has stolen or found the card, since such losses are generally limited by statute to relatively small sums, but the much more substantial losses which can result from identify theft facilitated by a thief's use of a lost credit card. The financial and psychological costs of such identify theft can be truly devastating.
For the foregoing reasons, it can be readily understood that the loss of a person's credit card is a serious matter, warranting substantial efforts to discourage such a loss. Accordingly, a number of prior art devices have been disclosed which are intended to minimize loss of credit cards.
Prior art disclosures of devices for discouraging credit card loss include Beck et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,453, Card Carrier Having An Alarm, which includes a credit card holder that has a battery, an audible/visible alarm such as a beeper and/or flashing light, and an electronic sensor which energizes the alarm upon removal of a credit card. Potential disadvantages of the device include high production costs, requirement for batteries which could fail at inopportune times. Moreover, beeping sounds and slashing lights could be annoying to other patrons of a business establishment, and do not insure that the wallet will not be folded closed and put away before the card is returned. Also, electronic systems in general are failure-prone.
Eppenbach, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,328, Apparatus For Preventing Credit Card Loss, discloses a wallet which includes an elongated rectangular leaf spring that is compressed by insertion of a credit card into a pocket over the leaf spring, and which elastically expands into a triangular cross-section band when the card is removed, the apex of the triangle abutting the opposing side of a center-fold wallet if an attempt is made to fold the wallet closed without replacing the credit card. However, because the overall protrusion height of the expanded leaf spring is inherently limited to a relatively small value, the wallet can still be folded closed with little noticeable effort. Thus, although the spring does hold open to some degree the center-fold area of the wallet when the wallet is folded closed, the protruding spring is not a sufficient deterrent to prevent the wallet from being closed and replaced into purse, handbag or large pocket.
Galante, U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,356, Missing Card Warning Device discloses a warning device for insertion into a credit card pocket of a wallet, the warning device consisting of a planar sheet which has protruding from one or more edges thereof a resilient rectangular strip which is resiliently raised upwards form the sheet to indicate removal of a credit card from a location overlying the device. The device offers no deterrence to inadvertently folding the wallet closed and pulling it away before the card is returned. The protruding strips offer a e reminder and would probably tend to go unnoticed by a person experiencing the many distractions customarily associated with the use of a credit card.
Vetter, U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,038, Wallet Card Reminder, discloses a wallet which has credit card pockets, each having a front wall with a top edge and a rear wall that extends higher than the front wall top edge. A holographic-type light-reflecting strip is attached to the rear wall to lie above the tope edge of the front wall, providing a visual reminder to a user when a credit card is removed from the pocket. However, experience indicates that in most cases, such visual warnings will go unnoticed. Once any type of printed reminder or warning is viewed on a regular basis over an extended period of time, the reminder loses its effect and is eventually ignored. Credit cards are lost because people are not paying attention in the first place, and therefore, it stands to reason that in time they will not pay attention to the warning feature this invention discloses.
The present invention was conceived of to provide an effective device for thwarting loss of credit cards.